Morning news headlines for March 14, 2014

Everything you need to stay up to date around the globe

Veteran politician Tony Benn and chairman and BBC journalist Guto Harri appear for a Question and Answer session at Galeri Caernarfon in 2008

LABOUR VETERAN TONY BENN DIES AT 88

Veteran Labour politician Tony Benn has died at home at the age of 88, his family said today.

The former cabinet minister died this morning at his home in west London surrounded by family members.

In a statement his children Stephen, Hilary, Melissa and Joshua said: “It is with great sadness that we announce that our father Tony Benn died peacefully early this morning at his home in west London surrounded by his family.”

PEER ’AMONG HELICOPTER CRASH DEAD’

One of the people killed when a helicopter crashed in thick fog was Northern Ireland peer Lord Ballyedmond, according to reports.

Lord Ballyedmond, one of the richest men in Northern Ireland, was chairman of Norbrook, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical company in the world.

According to the Register of Lords’ Interests, he owned Gillingham Hall, a stately home near the crash site.

LAVROV AND KERRY TO MEET IN LONDON

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and US secretary of state John Kerry will be in London today for talks aimed at easing tensions over the Ukraine crisis, with the West warning of sanctions unless a planned referendum on the future of Crimea is abandoned.

Politicians and officials in Moscow could be hit with asset freezes and travel bans if the referendum goes ahead in Crimea, where voters will decide on Sunday whether to break away from Ukraine in favour of joining the Russian Federation.

Mr Kerry has warned of “very serious steps” from the US and European Union if Russia annexes the strategically important region, which has strong ties to Moscow.

CAMERON VOWS TO ’TAKE MYTH APART’

Prime Minister David Cameron will focus on his fight to keep Scotland in the UK as he opens the Scottish Conservative party conference.

He is due in Edinburgh, where he will draw on recent interventions from major businesses, such as BP and Shell, in the referendum debate.

Mr Cameron will attempt to tackle accusations of “scaremongering” over the country’s future, saying he wants to “take that myth apart”.

TOO MANY IN 40P TAX BAND - LAWSON

George Osborne has come under further pressure to help middle-income earners as former chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby said “far too many people” are caught in the 40p income tax band.

Another former Tory chancellor, Lord Lamont of Lerwick, called for the threshold to be raised, warning that unless action is taken 40p could become the basic rate.

As the Chancellor prepares for next week’s Budget, there has been growing clamour for a significant rise in the level - currently £42,150 - at which the 40p rate kicks in, with many Tories arguing that this should take priority over a further increase in the personal allowance from £10,000 to £10,500.

COUPLE SENTENCED FOR RIGBY VIDEOS

A British Muslim couple will be sentenced today for glorifying the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in videos posted on YouTube.

Royal Barnes, 23, and his wife, Rebekah Dawson, 22, recorded and uploaded three videos shortly after the murder in Woolwich, south-east London, in May last year.

Barnes faces jail at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty last month to three counts of disseminating a terrorist publication and one of inciting murder.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on March 1, where he denied the charges, alongside Gerrie Tahari, 44, who denied facilitating terrorism overseas.

CALLS FOR GM PLANTS TO BE LICENSED

Genetically modified plants should be licensed in the same way as medicinal drugs under a sweeping reform to the regulatory system that hands powers currently held by the European Union back to individual countries, a new report has said.

There is a scientific consensus based on years of research to show GM technology is safe and the current system acts as an “impediment” to developing crops that could help future global food security, the paper for the Council for Science and Technology (CST) stated.

It said decisions should be based instead on the genetic make-up and purpose of individual products, with current regulator the European Food Standards Agency reduced to an advisory role, giving member states power to licence or block development through a body similar to drug agency Nice.

HUNT REVEALS ’FAST TRACK’ DRUG PLAN

People suffering from serious illnesses including cancer and dementia will be able to try new medicines years earlier thanks to a new scheme, the Health Secretary has announced.

Jeremy Hunt published details of a “fast track” plan to get drugs into the NHS before they have even been granted a licence for use.

Paid for by the pharmaceutical industry, the scheme means experts will carry out a rapid assessment of a drug before labelling it a “promising innovative medicine”.

MAN IN COURT OVER DAUGHTER MURDER

A man will appear in court today charged with murdering his four-year-old daughter.

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The Editor

Mark Thoma

Liverpool-born Mark joined the Daily Post in January 2014 after seven years as editor of its Merseyside sister title the Liverpool Post. He started out as a weekly news reporter on Wirral Newspapers, and spent seven years at the Daily Post and Liverpool Echo. He was The Press Association's regional correspondent for North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire from 1983 to 1997, before returning to the ECHO as deputy news editor. He has won a number of journalism awards, including the UK Press Gazzette Regional Reporter of the Year award, and in 1993 wrote a book on the James Bulger murder.